United States Eventing Association

The VIP Volunteer: Laurie Hogan Finds Peace in Volunteering

Strange as it may seem to some die-hard eventing fans, not everyone seeks out horses in their lives. Sometimes, the horse world chooses the equestrian. And that’s exactly what happened to this month’s VIP Volunteer Laurie Hogan. Hogan has two main passions in life—volunteering at horse trials and jam sessions with a group of local musicians. By a twist of fate, her attendance at her local weekly music jam is what led her into the world of horses.

It all started when she attended her first music jam and met Pao Lin Hatch, who owns a draft cross and a Miniature Horse. While Hatch is the one who first introduced Hogan to the world of horses, it was Volunteer Coordinator Melissa Rundt who truly cemented Hogan’s place within it.

“In a certain sense, Pao Lin is the guilty party,” Hogan chuckled. “But Melissa Rundt is really the guilty party, because the first time I met her we talked for a good while; her explaining to me this, that, the other thing, and then it developed from there. She knows that if she needs me, I’ll try my hardest to make it work for her.”

Hogan makes it a point to travel to volunteer wherever Rundt is coordinating, mostly at Pine Top (Thomson, Georgia), Jumping Branch (Aiken, South Carolina), and Stable View (Aiken, South Carolina). Currently, Hogan is the volunteer with the most hours dedicated to Stable View’s unrecognized series, the Eventing Academy, but she volunteers at a variety of recognized and unrecognized events.

“Melissa knows what I like, what I'm interested in. She's got a path set out for me,” Hogan said. “I like watching dressage because of the pageantry of it. I like watching show jumping, but those spots are usually filled. So that leaves cross-country. I do like being a safety spotter or jump judge on cross-country. She knows I like water jumps. I'm interested. So, that's where she'll put me, because I can learn there.”

While she may not event herself, Hogan says that watching cross-country has her attention rapt all day long. “I enjoy seeing the different riders, the different horses, the different jumps, the approaches that they take to the jumps,” she said.

The biggest competition she’s volunteered at so far was at the June Stable View Horse Trials last year, when Olympians and Olympic alternates had their last outing prior to heading to Paris for the Olympic Games. “Stable View was the last tune up for the Olympic squad last year. So, I got to see all of these potential Olympians jump, the ones that actually made the squad, and the ones that didn’t,” Hogan said of the event.

Hogan may enjoy watching top-notch competition, but what keeps her coming back to volunteer time and time again is the community—and some great homemade biscuits.

“I take it real seriously, not just what I do on course, but how people treat volunteers. Like how Pine Top offers you biscuits, with filling. And these are not bought, these are homemade. And they have them every single time I’m there,” Hogan said. “The organizers make their little run around the course, asking, ‘What do you need?’ If you didn't get something, they make sure you get it. In other words, it's good Southern hospitality that makes you feel like family and makes you want to come back.”

Without an eventing or equestrian background to lean on, there’s been a lot to learn on Hogan’s path to becoming a fully-fledged volunteer. But she says the community of fellow volunteers has been nothing but supportive.

“Everybody that I have met doing this, everybody has been great,” Hogan continued. “Everybody is supportive. They are willing to help. They're willing to explain. It's a very good, tightly meshed group that works together.”

A former surgical intensive care unit and post-anesthesia care unit nurse, Hogan now works at McDonald’s every Monday through Thursday. During the competition season, she spends the other three days of the week volunteering at horse trials and goes to music jams in the evening at least once a week.

Hogan really enjoys her current job, although caveats that statement with “some days are better than others.” Unlike McDonald’s, she says her former career as a nurse was very stressful. “It was very focused, very detailed. You're focused on this. You're looking for this. You don't want to see this. You're planning like in chess, five moves ahead and making sure nothing's going to change that.”

Now, jamming out with local musicians has become her relaxation, or as she calls it, her “therapy and meditation.” Like with horses, Hogan doesn’t have a particularly musical background, but she doesn’t let that hold her back.

“I don't think I'm good at any of [the instruments], but I will at least try. There are some that I like and some that I don’t. So, music is also therapy,” Hogan said.

Between work and jam sessions, Hogan is a busy woman. From March through November, she’s often working and volunteering seven days a week. However, she says she doesn’t mind.

“It's a lot of days where I'm obligated every single day, but horses are my therapy, my meditation,” Hogan said. “As my dad and I used to say about fishing—it’s like church on the water. Volunteering is church outside.”

About the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our sport—the unsung heroes, and the people who make it possible to keep eventing alive. In efforts to recognize the dedication, commitment, and hard work that volunteers put into eventing, the USEA formed the Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) in 2015. In 2017, an online management portal was designed for volunteers, organizers, and volunteer coordinators at EventingVolunteers.com, which is also available as an app for iOS and Android.

Volunteer incentives include national and area recognition, year-end awards, a top-10 USEA Volunteer leaderboard, and a Volunteer of the Year award which is given to the volunteer who accumulates the most volunteer hours on EventingVolunteers.com at recognized events throughout the USEA competition year. Click here to learn more about the USEA Volunteer Incentive Program.

The USEA would like to thank Horse Illustrated for their support of the Volunteer Incentive Program.